Air-actuated noise maker



June 3, 1952 G. WINTRISS AIR-ACTUATED NOISE MAKER Filed March 31, 1950 r Wail/Fit y51114?! I ATTORNEY Patented June 3, 1952 AIR-ACTUATED NOISE MAKER George Wintriss, Summit, N. J., assignor to Wintriss Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March 31, 1950, Serial No. 153,124

6 Claims. (Cl. 46-180) This invention relates to constructions for securinga voice, that is, a wind-operated noise maker, to a wall of a toy or other object in which the voice is inserted.

Dolls and toy animals made of rubber, or other resilient and flexible material are commonly made with an opening through which air passes when the volume of air within the toy is decreased by squeezing the toy, or increased by releasing the pressure and letting the toy spring back to the original size. By securing a voice to the inside of the wall having the opening, and placing it in such position that a passage through the voice is in line with the opening through the wall, the air passing through the opening is made to operate the voice. The term voice" as used herein to designate a reed secured at one end to a channel or holder having a passage through which air passes to vibrate the reed at audible frequency.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved construction by which a voice is secured to the wall of the toy, doll, or other object in which it is inserted and to provide fastening means that not only hold the voice more securely in place, but that strengthen and reinforce the housing in which the voice is held.

In the preferred construction, the voice housing is made of wood and it is secured to the toy or other object by an eyelet that is driven into the wood at a location that binds one end portion of the wood together around a stem of the voice. Another feature of the invention relates to a construction by which the eyelet, that secures the voice in place, can be driven further into the wood after it has been assembled with the toy or other object in order to lock the voice in place.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive construction in which a screen is clamped to the eyelet, on the outside of the voice assembly, and edges of the screen, that are bent around the eyelet, form teeth for preventing the material that holds the eyelet from being pulled away from the eyelet.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear or be pointed out as the specification proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views,

Fig. 1 is side elevation of a toy pig with the location of the voice indicated in dotted lines,

Fig. 2 is a greatly enlarged sectional view of the voice and a portion of the toy shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 are sectional views taken on the lines 3-3 and :44 respectively, of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a detail view showing the eyelet in elevation so as to illustrate the teeth around the edges of the screen.

Fig. 6 is an end view of the eyelet shown in Fig. 5. Z I

Fig. 1 shows a toy pig H) which is hollow and made of molded rubber. The rubber wall is referred to as the skin of the animal, but it will be understood that this skin does not cover any underlyingstructure other than a voice assembly H which is located in the hollow interior of the toy and which extends through an opening l2 in the bottom of the toy. The skin, which is indicated by the reference character [3 is resilient and elastic enough to make the toy spring back to its original shape whenever it is distorted and the distorting force is then withdrawn.

Since the volume of the air space within the toy is decreased when the sides of the toy are squeezed close together, and the volume expands again whenever the sides spring back again to their original relation with one another, it is evident that air passes out and in through the hole in the skin in response to these changes in the shape of the toy.

The voice itself. comprises a reed I4 secured to a channel or holder [5 by tabs N5 of the reed which are bent around a flange ll of the holder. The holder l5 has a generally cylindrical, tubular stem I8 at one end, and the passage through the stem IS in front of the reed is blocked by a turned up end 2| of the reed that forms a partition. All of the air that passes through the stem, therefore, has to pass behind the reed and between the reed and the holder [5. This voice structure is disclosed in my copending patent application Serial No. 101,015, filed June 24, 1949, now Patent 2,590,743.

The voice is enclosed in a housing 24 made of moderately soft wood and having a passage through it. This passage includes a large diameter chamber 25 in which the reed I4 is located and a smaller diameter passage 26 into which the stem I8 fits tightly. The stem I8 is preferably tapered so that it wedges securely into the passage 26 and reduces the required accuracy of the manufacturing tolerances, and the tubular stem [8 is formed with an open seam 33 (Fig. 4) which gives the stem added resiliency that further decreases the necessary accuracy of the parts that are to be assembled. This passage 26 is substantially smaller than the opening l2 and is preferably in line with it.

, of the voice.

enclosed with the eyelet 28 around the stem l8 This is particularly advantageous for toys that are sometimes put in water because it prevents possible loosening of the stem [8 in the passage 26 as the result of alternate wetting and drying of the wood with consequent swelling and shrinking. It also reinforces the wood and prevents any radial cracks in the wall of the passage from creeping outward to the periphery of the housing.

1 At the outer end of the eyelet 2.8 there is a flange .32, and it is the pressure of this flange against the outside of the skin [3 thatclamps the housing against the inside surface. The flange 32 can bear directly againstthe skin l3 but the illustrated structure has an additional feature comprising a screen 34 covering the outer end of the passage through the eyelet. The purposeof the screen 34 is to prevent any large obstructions from-getting into the voice and to prevent children from injuring the voice bypcking sticks 'or-wires into it.

In orderto keep the cost of the assembly low, the'screen 34 is made from a flat disk with .a plurality of small holes punched in it. These holes 36am on the circumferences of concentric circles-or inany other selected'pattern, but they are confined to the center-region of the disk, that is, the part in front of the passage through the eyelet 28.

The peripheral portion of the screen 34 is preferably imperforateand'it extends beyond the circumference of the flange 3-2 and is bent around the circumference of the flange 32 and then inward acrossthe back of' the :flange. This inwardly bent portion of the screen 34 is formed with sharply bent regions spaced outward from the backof the flange andcomprising .teeth38 that embed themselves in theskin [3. Since these teeth :38 extend in directions 'that have a component towardthe cylindrical portion of'the eyelet that fits the 'opening :l2,.and when the teeth 38'are embedded in the skin I3, therefore; they prevent the -skin from being pulled away from the eyelet '28. This keeps the skin frombeing stretched radially in the direction :necessary to enlarge the hole [2, and it is only by such enlargement of the hole I2 that the voice can be pulled outof the 'toy.

When the voice assembly is supplied to the toy manufacturer, the back of the flange 32 is spaced from the confronting end face of the housing 24 by -a,distance substantially equal to or slightly greater than the thickness of the skin l3 at the region of the opening l2. The housing 24 is-inserted into the toy by stretching the-opening 12 until it is large enough for the housing .24 to pass through it. When the full length of the vhousing has passed through the stretched opening, the sides of the opening come back toward their original unstretched condition and close around the cylindrical portion of the eyelet 28, between the eyelet flange 32 and the confronting end face of the housing 24. When closing on the eyelet, the :edge .portions of the skin l3 around the eyelet can pass the teeth because these teeth have their points directed inward so that the skin moves over them with a ratchet-like action, and the teeth prevent the skin from being pulled away from the eyelet again and thus prevent removal of the voice from the toy.

In order to secure the voice in place more securely, and positively to prevent pulling of the skin outward past the teeth 38, the eyelet 28 is pressed or hammered inward closer to the housing 24 after the skin is confined between the flange 32 and the housing. This movement, from the full line to .the dotted line position shown in Fig. 2, clamps the skin tightly between the flange 32 and the housing 24 and also forces the teeth 38 down into the skin [3 and locks the skin around the cylindrical portion of the eyelet. This feature by which the eyelet can be driven into the end of the wooden housing to reduce the width of the space between the-flange and housing is particularly advantageous with toys that have considerable variation, from one toy to the next, in the thickness of the skin around the opening through which the eyelet extends.

The preferred embodiment of the invention has been described, but changes and modifications can be made, and some features can be used indifferent combinations without departing from the'invention as defined in'the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A'noise maker assembly for use with a hollow object filled with air and including a resilient and elastic wall movable in and out to change the volume of air within the object, said noisemaker assembly comprising a wooden housing forlocation within the object with an end in contact with the inside of .theresilient wall, said housing having a passage for communication at one end with a circular opening through the wall, which opening is substantially larger than the end of the passage'so that it extends radially beyond the end'of the passage on all sides of the axis of the opening, a pneumatically-operated noise maker in the passage, an eyelet'having'a cylindrical portion for fitting into the-opening through the wall, a sharpedge at the inner end of the eyelet for driving into the wood to be tightly held by the Wood, a flange at-the outer end of the eyeletya plate with a plurality of openings forming a screen over the open end of the eyelet, said plate being in contact with the outside of the flange and having its circumferential edge bent inward around the periphery of the flange and inward behind the flange, with the inwardly bent edge of the plate-formed into aplurality of teeth for projecting into the material of the wall to hold the wall against radial displacement away from the cylindrical portion of the eyelet.

2. Anoise maker assembly for connection with a resilient and stretchable wall of a hollow object that is squeezed intermittently to change the volume of air within said object and to cause passage of air from and into the interior of said object through an opening in the resilient wall, said noise maker assembly comprising a housing having a passing through it, a pneumaticallyoperated noise maker int'he passage, a tubular neck in line with the passageforextending from the housing through the opening to hold the housing in position with one .end of the passage communicating with the opening through the wall, a flange at the outer end of the neck for location outside of the wall -to hold the housing against the inside of the wall, a screen covering the outer face of the flange and having a peripheral portion bent around the periphery of the flange, and teeth along the edge of said peripheral portion for projecting into the outside of the wall in a circle around the neck to prevent radial displacement of the material of the wall away from said neck.

3. The combination comprising a pneumatically-operated noise maker, a housing having a passage opening therethrough in which the pneumatically-operated noise maker is held, an eyelet at one end of the housing with its opening communicating with one end of the passage through the housing, a flange at the outer end of the eyelet spaced from the end of the housing, a sharp edge at the inner end of the eyelet embedded in the material of the housing, said eyelet having sumcient material for movement of the edge further into the material of the housing as the flange is driven closer to the housing to secure the housing to a wall by clamping the material of the wall between the flange and the end of the housing nearest to the flange.

4. A noise maker assembly for use with a hollow object filled with air and having a resilient wall in which there is an opening, said noise maker assembly comprising a housing that has an end face substantially larger than the opening for contact with the resilient wall around said opening with a passage through the housing communicating with said opening, a pneumaticallyoperated noise maker in the passage, an eyelet for fitting the opening and that can be extended through the opening and through the end face and into the material of the housing at some distance radially from the passage, and a flange at the end of the eyelet for location outside of the resilient wall and in position to exert pressure against the outside of said wall to hold the housing in place against the inside wall.

5. A noise maker assembly for use with a hollow object that is filled with air and that includes a resilient Wall movable in and out to change the volume of air within the object, said assembly comprising a wooden housing for location within the object, said housing having an end for con- 6 tact with the inside of the wall and having a passage for communicating at one end with a circular opening through the wall, which opening is substantially larger than the end of the passage so that it extends radially beyond the end of the passage on all sides of the axis of the opening, a pneumatically-operated noise maker in the passage, an eyelet having a cylindrical portion for fitting into the opening through the wall, a sharp edge at the inner end of the eyelet for driving into the wood to be tightly held by the wood, and a flange at the outer end of the eyelet for exerting pressure against the outside of the wall and holding the housing against the inside of the wall.

6. A noise maker assembly for use with a hollow object that is filled with air and that has a resilient and elastic wall in which there is an opening, said noise maker comprising a housing that has an end face for contact with the resilient wall around said opening with a passage through the housing for communicating with said opening, a pneumatically-operated noise maker in the passage, an eyelet having a cylindrical portion for fitting into and through the opening and the end face and into the material of the housing at some distance radially from the passage, a flange at the outer end of the eyelet, and teeth around the circumference of the flange for projecting into the material of the wall and having pointed ends for embedding in the wall and for being held embedded by pressure from the flange of the eyelet, said teeth extending in directions having components that are radially inward for resisting movement of the wall material away from the cylindrical portion of the eyelet.

GEORGE WINTRISS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the Herter Apr. 27, 1943 

